Content by tag "Joe Sullivan Big Band"

Joe Sullivan Big Band: Unfamiliar Surroundings

By JACK BOWERS

Unfamiliar Surroundings, a well-designed two-CD set by trumpeter Joe Sullivan's all-star ensemble from north of the border, consists of three disparate suites, two on Disc 1, the other on Disc 2. If the surroundings seem unfamiliar, the music is not, as it honors the legendary bellwethers of the Big Band Era without echoing any of them. ...

Joe Sullivan Big Band: Northern Ontario Suite

By JACK BOWERS

The latest recording by Canadian trumpeter Joe Sullivan's big band is built around his picturesque six-movement Northern Ontario Suite, whose purpose is to portray musically the sights, sounds and ambience of Sullivan's frosty corner of the world including the often spectacular aurora borealis ("northern lights"). The suite is preceded by a pair of Sullivan's engaging compositions ...

Joe Sullivan Big Band: Stop and Listen

By JACK BOWERS

The first time I reviewed an album by the Joe Sullivan Big Band was in a blindfold test. I had no idea whose band it was or where it was based. After lavishing praise on the ensemble as a whole and its various soloists, I summarized the analysis by writing, “This is a world-class big band ...

Joe Sullivan Big Band

By PAUL OLSON

Joe Sullivan
Joe Sullivan Big Band
Effendi Records
2004

I'll just go ahead and state the obvious: you'd have to be crazy to form a jazz big band.

It wasn't always so: in the swing era, of course, that was what people wanted to hear. That's what a jazz band ...